My First Day in American Sign Language
| [1] | |
| Upon registering for my first semester of high school, I was | |
| excited to learn I could take American Sign Language to fulfill | |
| my foreign language requirement. I had always enjoyed the | |
| study of other languages, and just the thought of learning the | |
| visual language by studying the language of the deaf community | |
| intrigued me. I was excited for this opportunity to grow, which | |
| was likely to be both challenging, and rewarding. |
| [2] | |
| The first day of class was one of the most interesting and | |
| backward experiences I have had in my entire life. As I walked | |
| into the classroom, the teacher, Ms. Higgins, smiled and pointed | |
| at a banner over the door which read, “No voices beyond this | |
| point.” I looked at her incredulously. I couldn’t imagine how I | |
| was going to make it through the next 90 minutes without | |
| speaking or being spoken to. I took my seat and glanced around | |
| at my classmates who all looked as nervous as I felt. |
| [3] | |
| As the bell rang, the teacher walked to the front of the | |
| classroom and pointed to a poster. Each letter of the alphabet | |
| was listed with a handshape pictured below it. She slowly, | |
| patiently, showed us how to shape our hands into each | |
| individual letter. It was more complicated than I expected as | |
| I realized that even a slight difference in the direction my palm | |
| was facing or where my thumb was positioned can change the | |
| meaning entirely. After all of us practiced the letters a few times, | |
| the teacher spelled out her name. She then walked to the boy | |
| sitting next to me and signed her introduction. I realized she | |
| wanted him to sign his name to her. I could tell he was nervous | |
| and a little embarrassed, but he smiled and mouthed “okay” | |
| before he slowly signed his name. The teacher smiled and | |
| showed us how to sign, “Nice to meet you.” During the rest of | |
| our class time, we each introduced ourselves in American Sign | |
| Language. |
| [4] | |
| Eventually, the bell rang—seemingly louder than usual— | |
| alerting us that class was over. As I left the classroom, my ears | |
| were bombarded with sound from every direction. [A] After | |
| sitting in silence for an hour and a half and depending solely on | |
| my eyes to receive information everything sounded heavy on my | |
| ears. Then I wondered if there was anything I could do to | |
| counteract this noise. Luckily, a solution popped into my head. | |
| [B] As I walked to my math class, I hummed to myself to drown | |
| out the cacophony surrounding me. [C] When I found my class, | |
| I chose a desk on the front row and turned to see if I saw any | |
| friends. Not seeing anyone I knew, I made eye contact with the | |
| student next to me, and when she smiled, I said that “Hi, I’m | |
| Mandy.” [D] The girl looked to a man standing nearby, and he | |
| raised his hand and communicated in sign to her. The girl smiled | |
| and looked back at me and signed something quickly. The man | |
| next to me said, “Hi, my name’s Kristin.” I’m sure I sat there | |
| entirely too long before I realized that Kristin was deaf and | |
| communicating through an interpreter. Soon, though, I smiled | |
| and raised my hand to my new friend and signed, “Nice to meet | |
| you.” |